Launches / Falcon 9 Block 5
Falcon 9 Block 5, flown by SpaceX
This was SpaceX's 88th launch of 2026, and its 707th in all.
Counting every operator, it was the 173rd orbital launch attempt anywhere in 2026, and the 40th from Space Launch Complex 40.
The Northrop Grumman/SpaceLogistics MRV-1 is a mission extension payload including a mission robotic vehicle (MRV) and multiple mission extension pods (MEPs). The MRV is designed to attach up to 30 MEPs (Mission Extension Pods) to various satellites in GEO over the course of its life, and the MEPs (Mission Extension Pods) are 400 kg spacecraft designed to be captured by the MRV and then attached to a customer's satellite. A single MEP can extend a 2000 kg satellite's service life by up to 6 years. For this mission, 2 of the MEP's will service satellites for Intelsat, while the third will service a satellite for Optus.
Falcon 9 is a two-stage rocket designed and manufactured by SpaceX for the reliable and safe transport of satellites and the Dragon spacecraft into orbit. The Block 5 variant is the fifth major interval aimed at improving upon the ability for rapid reusability.
627 flights, 626 of them successful. 612 boosters brought back from 617 attempts.
First stage Second stage
Simulated from the published flight plan. The climb flattens as the rocket pitches over to build sideways speed, which is why a launch stays visible so far from the pad. A dashed line is a stage that separates and flies back down, either to the pad or to a ship waiting downrange.
Going to watch it in person? Flyby's Pathfinder points your camera at the pad, so you are not stood there guessing which one it goes up from. It puts this same climb on a globe you can turn, too.
Space Exploration Technologies Corp., known as SpaceX, is an American aerospace manufacturer and space transport services company headquartered in Hawthorne, California. It was founded in 2002 by entrepreneur Elon Musk with the goal of reducing space transportation costs and enabling the colonization of Mars. SpaceX operates from many pads, on the East Coast of the US they operate from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and historic LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center. They also operate from SLC-4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, usually for polar launches. Another launch site is being developed at Boca Chica, Texas.
724 launches so far, 709 of them successful. The last 209 in a row went to plan.
It went up from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA.
This one is done, but there is another along shortly. Flyby works out whether it climbs into your sky, and wakes you in time to get outside.
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